My son loves both of these options
UCLA pros
Has 4 years of housing guarantee
Seems like students love their school
Has an amazing reputation
UCSB cons
Only first year housing guaranteed
UCSB CCS pros, innovative and unique program with priority registration, small classes, focus is on exploring areas of interest, so add/drop and grading policies reflect this, great advising and unique and innovative research opportunities. We know a few students in this program and they are innovative and extremely talented. And extremely happy with their program and campus.
Campus life is fun and balanced with a gorgeous setting on the ocean bluffs and a bikeable community.
UCLA- my son has applied to Mathematics and has multiple interests in STEM, math, physics, AI, robotics, engineering and he might do well to be somewhere where he can explore lots of areas of interest. Not sure how this would work at UCLA. So for that reason UCSB CCS seems like a great match but the lack of on campus housing make us pause a bit.
He is also really involved in theater, assuming there will be student theater productions at both campuses.
Any advice on how to choose? He just visited both campuses and really liked both. I think he is equally open to a city environment - I think a coastal beach setting isn’t a huge factor for him.
You had me sold at UCLA pros and UCSB cons 
I was like UCLA.
Then I kept reading.
Why not check the area housing at UCSB…to get comfort. Kids are living somewhere? If you want something close to campus, look at availability and pricing to get an idea of what is available to see if that’s within reason (price and distance) of what you’d like.
That way you make a decision with your eyes wide open.
I’m also wondering if the on-campus housing should be less of deciding factor in the decision.
I mean, it’s important.
My daughter goes to an urban school and next year I’m paying - a lot more than what the school charges. Others live cheaper but far away. For my little girl, I want her adjacent to campus.
If you see the off campus housing and it’s within budget and it’s available, plentiful, then your concerns may be overblown.
If you see the prices compared to UCLA on campus - and it’s like night and day - then I think it’s a totally justifiable consideration. Or if you see kids are living far away from school - and now require a car or other method, plus the difficulty of getting to campus, it may not work for you or your student.
So I think it’s a total fair concern - but that’s why I’d research more so that the student makes an informed decision, whichever that decision is.
Good luck
Agree that on-campus housing is a big deal at the urban UC’s.
Switching between Math and Physics should not be a big deal at UCLA as they generally admit by Division – not major – and Math and Physics are in the same division.
I would personally go for academic fit first. If the academic fit is not there, it doesn’t matter how good the housing is.
- Looking closely at the curriculum for the major he was admitted to at each school, is this what he wants to do?
- How much room would he have in his schedule for exploring these different interests?
- How much access would he have to the classes he might want to take in the different departments and colleges within each university?
- Looking at classes offered in the various different departments, does the university offer the breadth and depth that he might want to see in each area of interest?
- What would be involved in changing his major if he chose to do that?
My guess from what you are saying is that academic flexibility is very high importance for your son, and I do get the sense that CCS offers that. My son also knows a couple of students in this program, and they are VERY happy with both the flexibility and the overall quality of education they feel they are getting. But I think it can be helpful to look at all details when trying to determine academic fit. UCLA might offer enough flexibility and may have additional strength in some areas he couldn’t find at UCSB… I don’t know.
@caparent2 - Congrats to your S24! Such great options!
IMHO, the lack of 4 years of guaranteed housing at UCSB can be addressed/mitigated (e.g., get ahead of it by looking into off campus housing early). It would be difficult to match UCSB CCS’s advising, priority registration, small class sizes, undergraduate research.
Small class sizes (as an example) show as more important for recent graduates than students applying to colleges in
Frank Bruni’s opinion piece in NYT on “There’s Only One College Rankings List That Matter”
Good luck to S24 in choosing!
My kids have had quite a few friends attend UCLA, and it hasn’t seemed to me that very many students take them up on the four years of on-campus housing. I wonder whether there are actually nicer on-campus options for upperclassmen (vs. most first-years in triples), or whether the guarantee is possible because what’s available doesn’t make four years on campus appealing to most. One thing that I’ve noticed is that the relative cost of different housing options tends to cause friend/housing groups to cluster by economic class, because people have to live with others who have a similar housing budget.
UCSB has a lot of off-campus housing in Isla Vista. I wouldn’t worry about not being able to find housing. Plan ahead and you’ll be fine.
CCS is a pretty great program! I agree with tamagotchi about putting academic fit first. Neither school has bad enough housing problems to make or break the decision, IMHO.
Although the top three criteria by far in the chart are all money related (affordable tuition, pay after graduation, low debt). Small class sizes were not that important to graduates and even less important to 16-19 year olds.
Over 20,000 kids face the same housing situation and decided to enroll at UCSB anyway. So it isn’t like the majority found it to be a huge deterrent compared to what they saw as the advantages/benefits of UCSB.
But the majority aren’t your kid. Life is full of trade-offs. If your kid is willing to give up CCS in order to have a housing guarantee then who is to say that’s the wrong decision for him?
Definitely definitely check the class sizes!! This is so much more important than housing! In math and physics, my guess is his first class at CCS will be about 30 kids, whereas it will be 300+ at UCLA. Lower division math and physics at UCLA are designed to weed out the thousands of engineering and pre-med kids who don’t belong there. At CCS, the lower division math and physics are meant to inspire and engage.
He’ll likely be placed in a research project right away at CCS. There’s nothing like that at UCLA, where he’ll have to email 30 professors and hope someone takes him over all the other undergrads begging for a research position. Unless he has significant DE credit or competition math, it will be hard to compete against those other kids.
Check the number of GE requirements—L&S at UCLA has a HUGE number of GE requirements, whereas my understanding is that it’s much less at CCS.
All that said, my kid absolutely adores UCLA. She didn’t adore the lower division math there though. I wish I had been able to get her to consider CCS.
For me, it would be a no-brainer. UCSB CCS all the way.
Who is worried about housing, you or your son (or both)? As was mentioned, the majority of students at UCLA choose to not live in university owned housing for four years. The search for private housing around UCLA is the same as the search at UCSB.
How much does “has an amazing reputation” come into play for you, your son, family members, etc? @tamagotchi can you share your experience?
“Seems like students love their school” isn’t a pro for UCLA over UCSB. Students at both campuses love their school.
UCSB’s CCS is a very unique and cool program. You get to do grad student level stuff from the get go. Your kid should absolutely pick this over UCLA.
But I’m biased because I’m a UCSB grad. Lived freshman year in Santa Rosa hall right next to CCS.
Are you referring to my son’s experience when he announced to everyone that he was choosing his “safety school” over his reach schools?
Honestly, UCSB and UCLA both have great rankings and reputations… we’ve known kids who’ve chosen SB over LA because of something offered there, and nobody blinked an eye.
So I don’t think the OP’s son would run into rude questions like my son did.
But if OP’s son does pick CCS, and some misinformed person thinks it’s odd they passed up LA, it can be helpful to be armed with a fact or two, “of course, CCS is world renowned for ___” or “yes, my son was attracted by UCSB’s amazing program in ___” and then just look at them like, Oh, you didn’t know about that?
I wondered if your son discovered the benefits of what was offered at his “safety” himself and how you helped him evaluate the programs?
OP asked about housing in the UCSB CCS thread and said, “My son is thinking a school that offers housing four years is a big plus. I’m a little worried he isn’t seeing all the advantages of the CCS program and community and weighting those over the housing issues of Santa Barbara.”
Oh, I honestly don’t think I have a whole lot to add about that, other than what I already said about academic fit above. But as far as the process…
I helped my son make a spreadsheet, he identified the things that were important to him, and he rated all the schools he was considering on factors like “academic flexibility,” “strong program in X,” “access to courses in Y,” “great support of student project teams” etc. (also “good orchestra with access for non majors” and some other things.)
Some of the reachier schools began to slide down in his personal rankings, as he became clearer about what was important to him.
Academic flexibility turned out to be one of the biggest factors for him (and in fact, he declined the UCLA waitlist primarily because the curriculum in his major had low flexibility).
@ucbalumnus - True. My post was more to illustrate that small class sizes is considered more valuable by students in hindsight.
To your point, the NYT opinion piece and the referenced do your own rankings tool and its basis seem to skew more to the monetary factors than academic factors that @CAparent2 and @tamagotchi discussed like mentorship from professors, experiential opportunities like undergraduate research, advising, flexibility in changing majors, etc.
In my family’s case, the cost factor is also extremely important, but it simply sets boundaries around the universe of colleges to consider. Within those boundaries, we would then focus on qualitative factors such as academic fit.
So it might seem like academic fit (for example) would be factor #1 for us, but that would be ignoring the fact that cost was actually factor #0 for us 
UCLA > UCSB if we are talking about math. UCSB > UCLA if we are talking about physics.
Generally speaking, I’d say UCSB CCS > UCLA > UCSB.
CCS is an incredible program at UCSB. And The Kavli Institute (KITP) is also a highly regarded institution where many academics from across the globe visit to conduct research. UCSB is one of the most prestigious physics schools in the world. Shuji Nakamura (faculty at SB) invented the blue LED and won a Nobel prize in Physics. Blue LEDs were revolutionary; it was seen as almost impossible to make until Nakamura came along.
For math specifically, UCLA has outstanding faculty. Terence Tao is a professor there and is considered one of the best. I can’t even list how many awards he’s won. UCSB is great too; they have Yitang Zhang who proved that there are infinitely many pairs of prime numbers that differ by less than 70 million. Sounds inconsequential, but this was pretty groundbreaking.
I’d take UCSB CCS simply because it’s such a unique, intimate learning experience. And you are being taught by the best in their field with personalized attention. If your son wants to apply for grad schools, I think CCS is the better option. But UCLA has the brand name and fun city life. There is a housing issue at UCSB, although I think it’s a bit overblown. Hard choice between two great options!
Thank you! This is really helpful! As his parent I’m hoping he chooses CCS and I can also see that he has great choices either way!